Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/385

SEQUEL OF JAVANESE HISTORY. 84tl name of commerce, was their object. To give an equitable price for the commodity they purchased, or to demand no more than a reasonable profit, never entered into their minds. They considered the natives of those countries as fair game, and drove a trade, in short, in which the simplicity, ig- norance, 'and weakness of the inhabitants of the country, were but poorly opposed to the superior intelligence, more enlarged experience, and, above all, to the power and violence of the European. On these most inauspicious principles commen- ced the intercourse bertween the Dutch and Java- nese. It would have been far more beneficial to the latter, had the Europeans with a great force at once conquered their country. Ultimately they did so, after two centuries of misery and tedious suffering. In the first case, the European con- querors would have mixed with the native popula- tion, instructed them in the arts and civilization of Europe, and the interests of both must have been finally assimilated. In the last, the interests of the two parties have been at direct variance. The tribu- tary party, distrusting every thing European, have neither adopted the improvements, nor the religion of their masters ; and, to say the least of it, are at this day not a whit more civilized or improved than when the connection commenced more than two centuries back. From l59o to 1612, the Dutch traded chiefly